Dustball

I'm guessing battery with a dead cell.

jleblan1

I'm going with faulty flux capacitor.

Landshark

i think Old Man Smithers tampered with the battery so he could buy the amusement park out from under mRVRsport

mRVRsport

^
You guys..
no patience whatsoever...

We're looking to buy a new house, so I just don't have enough time on the weekends that I use to.
Please cut me some slack.
Any how here's their CVI & diagnostic report:










Basically the battery is solid.
No bad cells, holding charge good.

Their technician said it was a loose (negative) battery terminal. ?

*******************

So some more backstory -
The flatbed tow truck driver who showed up last Monday, didn't even needed to tow me. All he asked was have you tried to jump it.. To which I explained that I did and with two different vehicles.

He asked if he can give it a shot with is "portable" unit. I said what the hell, go for it! Sure as cows in a Texas pasture, the OS fired right up!

The guy told me that some of the jumper cables these days are made so cheaply (with under gauged wires, even though the insulator looks plenty thick) that it's not allowing enough current to pass thru to properly jump a car.
I couldn't argue that point, since obviously he was able to start up my totally dead vehicle within a second of him hooking up this jumper pack. (I'm going to had to dissect my jumpers and see.)

I actually WAS able to drive myself to the dealership that day.
So, I just wanted all of you to know the details behind that.

*******************

baby is up, let me take care of a few things and I'll finish up the remaining story and what I think really happened.

Landshark

just having some fun and you piqued our curiosity. good luck on the new house - took us 2 years to find the right house because we knew what we did and didn't want after our first one. hope you find something quickly and at a great price.

my wife's WRX got stranded once (only 2 years old at that point) - i bought a multimeter and a battery terminal cleaner with me to rescue her. one terminal did seem a little grungy, but i think one might have been loose. put them back on and it fired right up!


i just bought my stepdad the portable jump unit i have for Xmas. takes up less room than jumper cables ....

CottageLifer

I would be curious to know if one of those new fangled chargers will actually start a car in winter.

Landshark

Supposedly you can get 30 jumps out of one charge on the unit I have.

Here's a video of a different brand unit starting a truck with the battery disco'd.

mRVRsport

HOLY SMOKES!!

I did Not know such a tiny device existed..
I'm Definitely getting one to add to our Emergency Kit!
Thank you LandShark for clueing me (us) into such a device.






I may get two of these things, just to have one in the house too, in case of extended power outage or some such and still be able to keep our phones charged up.

Landshark

the Afterpartz Alligator one i got had good reviews and is rated 500amps (most are 400). its actually smaller (but thicker) than my cell phone. comes with adapters for phones, etc. and a nice carry case.

there are some rated 600amps, but i got the Alligator since its a nice compromise of power, size and price.

CottageLifer

Is that CCA?

Landshark

no, but you wouldn't leave that thing in your cold engine bay.

shouldn't get too cold in its carrying case in a glovebox or trunk, or in a garage.

CottageLifer

Nice to be able to leave in the car when it is park outside, like at a ski area. But it might be worth trying out. And of course the 1000 amp pack is like $200 here.

mRVRsport

Okay.
So, let's get back on topic -

If yall will look at line #6 (90MZENG4) of the worksheet:

They wrote down what I did mention (as an unrelated issue at the time > engine bay random squeaks) They ended up finding other problems. Which I think may have lead to our total non-start problems. (ie: battery was never really being full charged by the alternator. Is what I'm thinking.)

Apparently there's some kind of misalignment of the serpentine belt on the Alternator and A/C units.

I'm guessing that's what was causing the random noises I've been noticing, but more importantly it may have cause the alternator to NOT spin at full speed.

The technician (I was told) replaced the "alternator assembly" per TSB 14-16-001.

**********************************

It's been a week and I MUST say that there hasn't been any squeaking noises from the engine bay AND our MPGs have gone way up to what I have experienced in our previous Silver O.S.

We are hitting 29 to 30-ish+ levels Very easy, without even trying!!!
(verse just 27mpgs at best - with very deliberate grandfatherly driving styles.)

Everything about the engine > response, engine idle/rev's and Acceleration has much improved from this repair.

So, yeah it was a drag and a hassle to have what happened to us a week ago, BUT having this great a result after getting our vehicle back from the dealer was/is worth all the headache!

mRVRsport

I wished I had recorded what they did under the hood per TSB 14-16-001
The service adviser has no idea...

But, here's the current average MPGs >

Landshark

what kind of driving? mostly highway? maybe an ECU reset - let us know if the good mpg's continue in the next few weeks ...